We will see their faces on the gray horizon of the Moon. Their names were read by Vice President Mike Pence in Cape Canaveral in a landmark place, the hangar-museum where one of the large Saturn 5 rockets left over from the Apollo moon exploits of the past lay. NASA has thus chosen the first eighteen astronauts who will fly on the selene sands with the Artemis program announced by Trump in December three years ago. Met are women. Four of them have never flown into space, but some, meanwhile, will soon have a cosmic baptism on private spacecraft. The last time in Houston the protagonists were announced towards the coveted destination was in the distant 1967. Now we resume the abandoned road, with enthusiasm and a pinch of rhetoric, betrayed by the words of Pence: I present to you the heroes of the future that we they will bring back to the moon and beyond.
Selection
The selection took place among the current 47 astronauts in service. Only five were present at the ceremony, to avoid the risk of contagion, while two others, Victor Glover and Kate Rubins, received the news about the space station where they are. Among the astronauts are well-known faces such as Jessica Meir and Christina Koch, who were the protagonists of the first female-only spacewalk. Christina also holds the female record in orbit with 328 days on the ISS. Nicole Mann and Jasmin Moghbeli are both aerospace engineers and Marine test pilots, and Stephanie Wilson has flown the shuttle three times. Jessica Watkins a Martian geologist working with the Curiosity rover on the Red Planet. Kayla Barron, 33, the youngest of the entire group, a nuclear engineer and submarine officer. Finally, veteran Anne McClain, also an engineer and army officer.
Testing
These first lunar astronauts will be joined by others that we will select next year – specified Jim Bridenstine, the administrator of NASA – and still others coming from the nations that collaborate with us in the Artemis program. The first test of the large SLS rocket with the new Orion capsule that will circumnavigate the Moon without men on board is expected next year. The first astronauts will make the debut flight always around the Moon in 2023 while the following year a woman and a man should land, except for a postponement that the new president Joe Biden could decide.
10 December 2020 (change 11 December 2020 | 17:08)
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